Scabies

Miniscule the little beast
burrowing through her skin
to feast on flesh that lies beneath,
and lay its eggs
and multiply and multiply and multiply.

Why bother to pretend to care if you don’t care
even though your job description is that of carer. 
If you don’t care why bother
to treat infestations with a simple cream,
instead watch and see how the little mites
eat her inside out, crust up her skin,
ignore (her) exquisite pain, 
just watch her die, for she’s just old
so who cares anyway?

What’s a doctor? 
We don’t know that’s why we didn’t call one.   
But anyway, who cares?

Homicide by neglect – you must be joking. 
Even if you’re not, who cares?

But we do care what you think of us…
(for we’re nice y’know.)
We do care about that,
and that’s important…
very important.

© Mags Fairlie

Former model eaten alive by scabies in Georgia nursing home

Mags Fairlie is passionate about her world and writes about her feelings in both poetry and prose. She lives in the UK and likes putting her fingers in pies.

Support Your NHS!

Wake up, smell the coffee,

sip it while its hot, quench your thirst,

drink it while you can.

Wake up, eyes wide open

read the news, see (the spin) between the lines,

see the lies and think on it, really think on it.

Wake up; stop your selfish crying,

stop moaning whilst the NHS is dying, if non-urgent

you might wait two weeks to see your doctor -
do you ever stop to think to wonder why?

Wake up, think & learn,
half of GP practices short of staff,
lots more work, less time to give to you,
stressed out they are, burn-out rising,
minimal pay rises, indemnity fees rises,
this & inflation all deplete their earnings
and steal their me-time too.
Would you want to be a doctor?

Wake up, think & learn,

two-thirds of hospitals short of doctors,

gaping holes in nursing too,

nurses working unpaid overtime,

never getting back their day owed in lieu,

both working their best in unbearable pressure,

what else do you suggest they can do?

Would you like to be a doctor or nurse?

Wake up, surely you’ve heard

of the gross underfunding

leading to trusts effectively bankrupt,

thus inadequate performance,

non-delivery of services,

excessive waiting of patients

and even preventable deaths &

winter crisis’s now expected to last into summer?

You haven’t? Well you’re reading the wrong paper –

do something please do something

before our NHS floundering & dying,

turns in its cradle as it draws its last breath.

Wake up – think!

Don’t turn up at your doctors demanding antibiotics

for a sniffle, as nearly all now think a cold is a flu.

Don’t turn up at your doctors for meds

you can buy over the counter

and extend this courtesy to A&E too.

Don’t turn up there for splinters in fingers,

toothache & backache, sniffles & sore throats

or just cos your pissed. Think of the folk

back-logged in the ambulances, true accidents and emergencies

whose immediate care might miss critical moments in timelines

(by your unnecessary presence) as you moan and groan as you wait

with your sore throat, wanting unneeded *AB’s…

But most of all be proactive, just do something,

raise your voice loud, write letters to newspapers,

the government and to your local MP,

join movements backing our doctors and nurses,

and importantly make no unnecessary visits

to accident & emergency or to your lovely GP.

Wake up – support our NHS,

for you really won’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone!

*AB’s = antibiotics

© Mags Fairlie

NHS failure is inevitable – and it will shock those responsible into action

Mags Fairle is passionate about her world and writes about her feelings in both poetry and prose. She lives in the UK and likes putting her fingers in pies.

Black Holes and Worried Souls

Try as she might
she cannot quell the fears
that exist deep inside her,
that man with one twist of a knob,
one press of a button
could permanently turn out the lights,
turn day to everlasting black of night
as they play God,
attempt to recreate creation
with the Large Hadron Collider.

She knows nought of elementary particles,
of quantum fields and symmetries;
her understanding of her world
is what she feels and sees,
mass to her is not something acquired by vector bosons
but something she attends on Sundays;
her worry is that one day mans inquisitiveness
(with one push of a button) will decide her fate,
her demise as they attempt to recreate creation
with the Large Hadron Collider.

It matters not to her how matter attains mass,
whether Higgs boson exists or not,
what matters to her is that she is, she exists
and the worry deep inside her very soul
is that with one twist of a knob,
a scientist generated black hole
will suck the Earth into oblivion
as they play God with the Large Hadron Collider…

© 'Anna'

German woman fails to prove atom-smasher will end world

Anna is passionate about her world and writes about her feelings in both poetry and prose.  She lives in the UK and for personal reasons, prefers to remain just 'Anna.'

Doldrums

August has been a long time here
Trade winds elusive,
not quite near enough
to sail these bankrupt seas,
instead
doldrums depressed
we sink deeper into lassitude

No more dead horse to flog,
throw overboard,
the debt remains,
no work to work it off.
Doldrums depressed
we need a degree of latitude.

Were we not becalmed,
Rudderless in this bankrupt sea,
we would set sail
to the nearest shore,
doldrums lifted
raise high the flag of gratitude.

August has been a long time here
Trade winds elusive,
not quite near enough
to sail these bankrupt seas,
instead
doldrums depressed
we sink deeper into lassitude.

© 'Anna'

'Greece euro exit likely in months'

Anna is passionate about her world and writes about her feelings in both poetry and prose.  She lives in the UK and for personal reasons, prefers to remain just 'Anna.'

10 Seconds

Strength in numbers,
base mentality,
oh brave men they,
sick to the core,
they surround the enemy,
marked by his black,
his youth, easy prey,
they pounce
(strength in numbers),
a punch, a kick,
that’s all it takes to snuff
a life.

He escapes,
runs for his life,
unaware that death
now lives within him,
He falls,
heart stopped,
life ceased.

Strength in numbers,
base mentality,
they watch him
flee and fall.
Disinterested,
they leave,
as casually as they killed.

© 'Anna'

Stephen Lawrence 'killed in 10 seconds'
-------------------------------------------------
Anna is passionate about her world and writes about her feelings in both poetry and prose.  She lives in the UK and for personal reasons, prefers to remain just 'Anna.'

NIMBY

So you think me
A two-faced swine
For suggesting
A waste plant
In your backyard
Is fine? 
I can’t see
How you can’t see
Its not
Breathtaking
Hypocrisy
When I say
I don’t want it in mine.

© 'Anna'

Ministers accused of 'hypocrisy' over relaxation of planning regulations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anna is passionate about her world and writes about her feelings in both poetry and prose.  She lives in the UK and for personal reasons, prefers to remain just 'Anna.'

The Last Bastion

Oh Harrogate, my Harrogate
(tis where I live in grand estate).
The game is up,
the deed almost done,
Harrogate has lost,
big business won,
no more shall we
in peace
dine alfresco,
for we shall
have to abide
the noise from
Tesco.

© 'Anna'

The only postcode without a Tesco – but for how much longer?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anna is passionate about her world and writes about her feelings in both poetry and prose.  She lives in the UK and for personal reasons, prefers to remain just 'Anna.'

Of Somalia

What kind of zealot
By oppression and denial
Would further starve
The very bodies, minds and souls
Of his brothers, sisters
Who through famine
Linger, emaciated
As death waits
Expectedly, hungrily
In the shadows?

What kind of zealot
Would refuse
Western, Christian aid
As his people
Who long to live
Sweep up innocent tiny
Scraps of life,
(Who suckle hungrily
At arid breasts)
And trudge wearily
On perilous journeys
For weeks, days
To escape
The ever expanding
Famine zone?

What kind of zealot
Believes his God
Will allow him
Entry to Heaven as
He watches, weeping,
As mankind, His creation
Spews evil in His name?

What kind of zealot
Truly believes that
Allah by His judgement
Will allow him entry
To Heaven by His mercy
And not cast him
Into Hell by His justice?

© 'Anna'

Somalia's Hungry Need Urgent Help
-------------------------------------
I am passionate about my world and write my feelings in both poetry and prose. I live in the UK and for personal reason prefer to remain just 'Anna'.
Anna says: "I realise that the reasons for the famine are complex, global politics have played a part and interest in providing aid by some governments is driven by Somalia’s oil production – but nevertheless for Al-Shabaab to deny a problem and deny aid horrifies me."